DuPont is to expand its production capacity for specialty resins that are used for packaging and industrial applications. The company announced on Tuesday that it would ramp up ethylene copolymers capacity at its Texas manufacturing facilities in response to growing market demand.
Ethylene copolymers are used to make a wide variety of items, from food packaging to golf balls. According to DuPont they can be processed to provide characteristics ranging from soft touch to super-tough, from crystal-clear to modified and filled.
Over the next three to four years DuPont plans to invest in excess of $100 million, of which more than one-third is expected to be installed by the end of 2015.
The company said that this investment would support growth of its specialty resins products including DuPont Surlyn ionomer resin, DuPont Nucrel ethylene acid copolymer resin, DuPont Elvaloy ethylene copolymer resins, DuPont Vamac ethylene acrylic elastomers and special grades of DuPont Elvax EVA copolymers.
William J. Harvey, president of DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, noted that these products are used in a diverse range of growth markets, including packaging that helps reduce food waste while also offering consumer convenience, materials to enable the production of more efficient vehicles, new roads that stand up to tough environments, more durable roofing solutions and higher-performing architectural glass solutions.
This capacity expansion reflects growing demand for advanced materials, DuPont said.
